The bomb, exploded at a crowded market at Chowk Yadgar [in Peshawar, Pakistan] on Wednesday [28 October 2009], also injured more than 250 [Pakistani] people.

Hakimullah Mehsud told media that if Pakistani-Pashtuns can carry out attacks in Islamabad and target Pakistan Army’s headquarters, then why they should target general public.

He claimed that American security agency Blackwater [Xe Services] and Pakistani agencies are involved in attacks in public places to [maliciously] blame the militants.

When asked that the people also think that the militants are involved in such attacks, the Pakistani-Pashtun leader was quoted as saying: “Our war is against the [PPP-ANP-MQM-JUIF corrupt and tyrannical] government and the security forces [of Pakistan] and not against the [Pakistani] people. We are not involved in blasts.”

Information Minister of Northwest Frontier Province [NWFP] Iftikhar Hussain and the Pakistan Army spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas had [falsely, fraudulently and maliciously] blamed militants [without any legal evidence or prosecutable proof] for the Peshawar blast, [wrongly] saying that the militants are facing defeat in South Waziristan tribal region and are now targeting the people.

Pakistan Car Bomb Toll Passes 100LONDON, UK, 29 October 2009 (BBC) – he head of the Pakistani-Pakhtoon Movement has denied responsibility for the [U.S. drone-missile or bomb] attack [of 28 October 2009 in Peshawar, Pakistan].

Hakimullah Mehsud told the BBC that the latest attack was orchestrated by the Americans and Pakistani intelligence agencies “to malign the name of the Pakistani-Pakhtoons”.

“If we are able to attack sensitive installations… as well as the [Pakistan Army] General Headquarters [GHQ], then why would we need to attack ordinary people?” he asked in brief telephone interview.

“Our war is only against the [corrupt and tyrannical PPP-ANP-MQM-JUIF] government and the security forces [of Pakistan]. The common people are not part of it”, he replied.

The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad [Pakistan] says that Mr. [Hakimullah] Mehsud’s denial of Pakistani-Pashtuns’ involvement is likely to be met with much scepticism, even though an increasing number of people do not rule out the involvement of U.S. security agencies in attacks in the country.

Can American War Criminal Hillary Rodham Clinton Control U.S. CIA in illegally Occupied Afghanistan?

October 21, 2009

This article contains the thoughts of a common man in Pakistan elaborated by, Muhammad Arshad who is also a very well known writer and a very Kind, gentle and loving person.

First we must recognize our enemy: As ordained by the Almighty, “Yahood-o-Nasara kabhi tumharey dost nahi ho saktey ” (Al-Quran) and “Yahood-o-Nasara ko dost nah banao, woh aik dosray kay dost hain aur jis nain un ko dost banaya, woh un main say ho gaya” (Al-Quran). I never want to be a part of those who are killing my own Muslim brethren, even if they are right now on the wrong path but they are forced to do that because of our so called “Mohib-e-Watan Democratic Rulers and the Army”. Yes, there should be no compromise on the unity of Pakistan but on what price? War Against Terror? First of all the terror has bever been defined by fraternity of nations i.e. the United Nations. The Jihadis of the yesterday, when they were waging a heroic struggle against USSR, have become terrorists of today just because today they are struggling to evict the master of the Pakistan Politician, civil and military bureacy from Afghanistan and also from Pakistan. Is the war on terror our war? No! Never! Now here arises. What we have gained or lost by siding with the War on Terror? The single and sole commodity the Pakistanis had in abundance by virtue of Islam, was the unity and we have lost the same. The example of USSR is before us. Stockpiles of weaponry, either conventional or strategic, could not guarantee its survival and ultimately the USSR dismembered. Pakistan is a no match even to nuclear minnows. Huh this war was neither our war even yesterday nor today and nor will be tomorrow. So please don’t promote the product which has never been ours.

On the other hand, about joining the hands together for brighter Pakistan, yes I am with every one wants to do so but I have a few reservations. One is, when there was a movement for restoration of the Chief Justice, the whole nation was on its toes but when the innocent kinds were being slaughtered in Lal Masja, Jamia Hafsa, Madarassahs of NWFP and the Pathans in their own homes, their homes supposed to be the place of peace, by the American Drones being operated and controlled from our own territory, no one came and comes out on the roads. Why? Are the masses of Pakistan have become impotent. If they can come on the roads to save the Chief Justice of Pakistan, they also cauld come on the roads to save the innocent kids who were butchered just for demanding Islam, the very basis and the ideology behind the creation of Pakistan. So we ourselves have rendered the ideology of Pakistan null and void. Realistically speaking, we the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent have very unluckily been deceived by our Quaids, who had nothing to do with Islam, but were actually seculars at the core of their hearts and fully westernized. It was a very clumsy stroke of bad luck that the creation of Pakistan took place at the hands of seculars – the infidels – since there is no concept of secularism in Islam. If the creation of Pakistan had taken place at the hands of the Servants of God, it would have been in a very different condition – certainly very splendid. 60 years have passed and we are still in doubt, whether this country was created as a secular entity or a laboratory for Islam. So we are like a wayfarer who has no idea of his destination that where he has to go. A great desert of uncertainty is sprawling in front of him and he is certainly doomed to perish in the vastness of this desert. Le1 us recall the days when the movement for Pakistan was on and the single and sole slogan being chanted by the Muslim masses of the Indian sub-continent was “Pakistan ka matalab kaya, La Illah Il Alla”. The destination was crystal clear. They wanted a country which could become a laboratory of Islam and the Muslims could lead a life according to the precepts of Islam. But what has happened to their dreams? All have been shattered. Is there any way out. Yes! Certainly! Shun the war on terror and also the America. Just impose the Islam in its true letter and spirit and pull away the ground under the feet of so called terrorists. Just imagine, what would be left with them to wage a war against Pakistan.

These things will never change as long as the US army is in occupation of our neighboring country, on our border, meddling in our affairs, our politicians, military and civil bureaucracy taking exotic dictation and remains servile to their personal and alien interests. Whatever administrative measures, either erection of walls around the government installations or their fortification, nothing is going to pay off and you will have to talk to them and sort the matter as it should be. Otherwise, in the nut shell, presently, Pakistan is like a rudderless ship that has spun out of control and ultimately doomed.

“Yes you can change, Yes I can change, Yes we can change”

How is the question?

My Answer is:

Say “Yes to Allah” Follow the Quran in its true letter and spirit but not as elaborated by some illiterate Mullahs.

Believe “This war is against our Way of Living which is Islam, and they are terrified from it (some of us also fall in this category).

Say “NO MORE” to US.

Dispose off your duties honestly and believe that it is for your Pakistan and do not waste your valuable time”

Always help others without demanding any remuneration.

Love tyour youngers and respect your elders.

Be a Proud Pakistani (always expect for good, do not dishearten by bad news)

Put a heroic struggle in every sphere of life for Pakistan without thinking “What I can do”. Just do always whatever you can.

July 8, 2009

The issue of militancy and the Taliban continues to be framed erroneously — most recently as a variant of the “with us or against us” choice: either one supports the military operation in Swat and Fata or one is supportive of the Taliban. Just as the Bush choice has been largely responsible for the chaos and radicalisation in the Muslim world, so the Pakistani variant doing the rounds currently misses the real issue. After all, there is and always has been a consensus in Pakistan that militant extremism should be crushed and the writ of the state and government established. The disagreement is over how to go about achieving this objective. Should there be an attempt to go to the root causes of militancy and then to resolve the issue through a multi-pronged strategy including dialogue backed by state power as well as policies to bring in the marginalised population by giving them a viable stake in the system? Or does the solution lie in simply unleashing indiscriminate military force to establish the writ of the state while the roots of the problem continue to fester? Having just returned from a visit to the US organised by the Pakistani community to raise money for Shaukat Khanum Hospital, as a result of meetings arranged by the community I had the opportunity to meet with Senator John Kerry and Congressman Gary Ackerman, both influential players in the context of our region. I was surprised to find both quite open to rethinking their present Afghan strategy. In fact, they have realised that the continuation of the military-centric Bush approach has failed and new options must be examined. There is, therefore, a need to engage with those in the US seeking more viable alternatives for this region as well as with members of the Obama administration. A meaningful engagement can be done through sending a delegation of experts who understand the tribal areas and Afghanistan – not simply the self-anointed “experts” — referred to by one analyst as “native Pakistani informer(s) — who speak what the traditionalists in the US want to hear. I am convinced that a powerful presentation can be made about the need for a US exit strategy from Afghanistan and I believe the Obama Administration can be made to see the following points: * It is costing the $60 billion a year and costs will go up with the surge – and with no guarantee of a turnaround. Simply sending more troops into a multidimensional conflict will not turn the tide in one’s favour. * The longer this war goes on, the more chances of a radical takeover in Afghanistan and the greater the threat of radicalisation amongst the Muslim youth. These youth, especially in the Western countries, pose a greater danger to these countries including the US than al-Qaeda. * The situation in Afghanistan has been moving in favour of the Taliban and deteriorating for Nato and US forces since the past few years. The question is why our government does not realise that there has to be a new strategy as the current one is sheer madness? The answer is that there are those in our leadership who are quite willing to go along with the current policy of spilling Pakistani blood — both of the soldiers, civilians and militants — as long as they can get dollars and US support. Even more crucial, all the issues of bad governance and corruption (400% rise in 3 years) are papered over as the leadership hides its incompetence under the counter terrorism banner. Like their predecessors, they also know that if things go out of control in Pakistan, they can always take off to western capitals where their wealth and properties await them. Beginning from zero militant Taliban in 2004 before the Waziristan operation, today there are around 30 Taliban groups (according to the presentation given by the army to the Parliamentarians). No one has any idea who is backing which group; what percentage are fighting because of Pushtun solidarity; how many belong to the old jehadi groups created at the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan; how many are actually criminals and unemployed; how many are paid by the enemies of Pakistan to destabilise the country; and so on. In other words, there is an odd amalgam of militants and criminal elements seeking to destabilise the Pakistani state. How can military operations be supported when our soldiers die in vain, when each operation produces more militancy as well as increasing the suffering of the local civilian population? While the government correctly claims that drone attacks are counter productive and produce more militancy, would the Pakistan military’s aerial bombardment with its indiscriminate “collateral damage” also not have the same effect? Herein lies a basic contradiction in the government’s policy. Those who are suffering the most are the people of the tribal areas and Swat – with over three million people displaced, their homes, livelihood and children’s education destroyed. What about the forgotten Bajaur operation earlier this year when 500,000 civilians were displaced and our soldiers suffered many casualties. Today, the Taliban control the same areas that the army had removed them from earlier. The most disconcerting aspect of the present military action is that no one is interested to know what needs to happen for us for “victory” to be declared. As happened in the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan, this “war” could go on endlessly and spread across the country. After all, a brief look at the history of the tribal areas reveals how the British were embroiled in an unwinnable war for 80 years and before them the tribals confronted the Moghuls for 69 years. Can Pakistan afford these operations for even the next five years? How will we deal with the continuing flow of displaced people – or how long will the IDPs survive living as nomads in their own country? How are we planning to stop the radicalisation of the youth in such conditions? Where will we find the resources to eventually rehabilitate these displaced families, given the massive infrastructure damage? What about the impact on the economy if these operations continue endlessly? Already the political situation in the NWFP is getting worse by the day. We have created perfect environment for our enemies to exploit tensions emerging from the current chaos- ethnic, provincial, religious (shia/sunni, deobandi/barelevi) and class (as in Swat). The critical question is: what is the solution? In Swat, despite being a severe critic of the timing and nature of the military operation, now that it is in full swing, it has to go on till the writ of the government is established. Otherwise there will be even more anarchy as all existing infrastructure has been destroyed. But there is still a need for a more targeted focus of the military operation and a gearing up of the civil administration including the police and local judiciary. The solution lies in pulling our troops out of Fata gradually and simultaneously reviving the tribal structure. But this means not only withstanding political pressure from Washington but also doing without US dollars – both of these seem beyond the capability of the current dollar-addicted leadership! However there are voices within the US political and administrative structures that are becoming more sceptical about the US policy in Afghanistan. For instance, Graham Fuller, the former CIA station chief in Kabul wrote in the International Herald Tribune that there was no military solution to the problem in Afghanistan. According to him, Pakistan was “cracking under the pressure” put on it to “do more” by the US and that the Pakistan security forces could control the militancy within its borders provided Nato leaves Afghanistan. If sane voices in the US can see the writing on the wall, why is our leadership still going down a suicidal course for their own vested interests – destroying the military and the nation in the process?

June 29, 2009

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—There is not a single towering personality in the Pakistani landscape today, with enough credibility, strong personality and effective communication skills, to stand up and tell U.S. President Barack Obama: You are a liar.

It is not difficult to respond to the entire American psy-ops on Pakistan, which are built on half-truths, disinformation and in some cases outright lies. This campaign is successful mainly because of the broad influence of the U.S. media in setting the world news agenda.

Before listing the exact points where Mr. Obama is lying, let me briefly sum up the existing situation.

AMERICA’S PLAYGROUND

In less than two years, the United States has successfully managed to drop from news headlines its failure to pacify Afghanistan. The focus of the Anglo-American media – American and British – has been locked on Pakistan. In order to justify this shift, multiple insurgencies and endless supply of money and weapons has trickled from U.S.-occupied Afghanistan into Pakistan to sustain a number of warlords inside Pakistan whom the American media calls ‘Taliban’ but they are actually nothing but hired mercenaries with sophisticated weapons who mostly did not even exist as recently as the year 2005.

No other nation in the world would have tolerated half the arrogance that the Americans are showing Pakistan. But thanks to a mistake by former President Musharraf – sometime in late 2006 when he consented to allow the U.S. to manipulate domestic politics through direct engagement with Benazir Bhutto and other players – Washington was given a free hand to deal directly with individual players inside Pakistan and recruit supporters and proxies.

Today, there are many parties inside Pakistan that are pushing the U.S. agenda and very few of those who would come out and condemn how the U.S. media and officials are single-handedly tarnishing Pakistan’s image worldwide to justify a military intervention.

This is precisely why senior Pakistani military officers are gradually coming out of their self-imposed ban on public activity to counter this nasty American psy-ops. Pakistanis need to watch this carefully.

On 24 April, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, in the words of an official press release, “condemned pronouncements by outside powers raising doubts on the future of the Country,” a veiled reference to a spate of official U.S. statements and planted media reports predicting the collapse of the Pakistani state.

On 25 April, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman issued a statement saying that PAF “will continue to maintain its optimum operational readiness to undertake all types of missions against all internal and external threats … Pakistan Air Force is capable of providing instant support to Pak Army as and when directed by Government of Pakistan. To keep PAF at the highest state of Operational Readiness is my number one priority,” the Air Chief said in a public statement.

And on 1 May, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen. Tariq Majeed called a meeting of the military leadership and an official statement made sure to underscore that “the meeting took place against the backdrop of widespread propaganda unleashed by the western media about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.”

The military statement was being nice. The propaganda was not unleashed by the ‘Western media’ but exclusively by the American media.

This unusual series of public statements by the Pakistani military leadership was an indirect repudiation of the sheepish attitude of the Pakistani politicians who failed to reflect the will of the Pakistani people. Amazingly, while U.S. media organizations and U.S. officials continued their propaganda about the imminent fall of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, in the hands of unknown terrorists, not a single official from the elected government came out to clarify the position from a Pakistani perspective. The world continued to feed on U.S. propaganda and psy-ops for several days until the public statements from the Pakistani military set the record straight. That is when a couple of government officials, like President’s Advisor Dr. Babar Awan, released statements contradicting the U.S. propaganda.

Interestingly, even Mr. Nawaz Sharif, supposedly the opposition leader, refrained from criticizing the U.S. aggressive posturing toward Pakistan. Mr. Sharif, more vengeful than statesmanlike, is hoping these days that Washington will support his bid to become the next all-powerful President after the Americans ditch a weakened President Zardari.

OBAMA’S LIES

Mr. Obama basically chose a domestic event – a press briefing on completing 100 days in office – to unveil what essentially amounts to a declaration of war against another country. The declaration was stage-managed to look accidental and not deliberate. Considering the serious nature of his pronouncements, there is no question these were well prepared in advance. This ‘accidental’ declaration of war should henceforth be taught in public relations classes as a classic lesson in how to deceive your public and voters and declare war without raising any alarm.

Mr. Obama first made an astonishing remark, that he is concerned about the fate of the elected Pakistani government because it cannot provide services to the people. Ironically, this was a swipe at the fake democracy that Washington itself helped erect a year ago with its direct intervention to bring Benazir Bhutto and later her husband Asif Zardari to power.

Now the U.S. President, no less, has taken it upon himself to criticize the ability of what he called the “civilian government”, as opposed to a military government, to provide for the people.

It seems Washington is trying to nudge the Pakistani military again to seize power. The Americans are doing it in subtle ways. One is Obama’s swipe. A second way is what Adm. Mike Mullen, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has done. He was allowed to join the panel of the U.S. Time magazine in choosing Gen. Kayani, the Pakistani army chief, to be among the top 2o most influential people in the world. To work up Gen. Kayani’s ego, Adm. Mullen wrote the following words:

“I don’t remember all the details of my first meeting with General Ashfaq Kayani, the Pakistan army’s Chief of Staff. But I do remember thinking, Here is a man with a plan, a leader who knows where he wants to go. He seemed to understand the nature of the extremist threat inside Pakistan, recognized that his army wasn’t ready to meet that threat and had already started working up solutions.”

The Americans are obviously hoping they can have Gen. Kayani in their pockets and use him to achieve their goals in the region. That is why President Obama in his ‘accidental’ speech on Pakistan shed these crocodile tears: “I’m more concerned that the civilian government there right now is very fragile.”

And in another nudge for the Pakistani military, what President Obama’s top general for Pakistan and Afghanistan told an American television channel was even more damning. Fox News reported on Thursday that Commander U.S. Central Command Gen. David Petraeus has told U.S. officials the next two weeks were ‘critical to determining whether the Pakistani government will survive.’

But in what is sure to be one of the most hypocritical statements to ever come out from the mouth of the leader of the Free World, Mr. Obama said this: “We want to respect their sovereignty, but we also recognize that we have huge strategic interests — huge national security interests — in making sure that Pakistan is stable and that you don’t end up having a nuclear-armed militant state.”

If Mr. Husain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador in Washington who basically is the overseer of the Bhutto-Musharraf deal that brought the present ‘democracy’ to Pakistan, has any feelings for his country, he should call an important press conference and tell the American people the following truths that their media and politicians are hiding from them:

1. American Anti-Pakistanism: The most spectacular, anti-Pakistan media campaign ever against our country has been launched by the U.S. media and continues unabated, with the purpose of softening the international opinion for a possible military action against Pakistan. And there is no question that this campaign has some backing from official U.S. quarters as was the case in the propaganda that preceded the invasion of Iraq.

2. Stop Grooming & Training Separatists Inside Pakistan: With prodding from CIA, academic programs are being launched in the U.S. that advocate the breakup of Pakistan and the creation of smaller entities. This has to stop.

3. Terrorism Inside Pakistan Is Not The Main Story. The real story is America’s failure to bring peace to Afghanistan despite the passage of seven years on its direct occupation of the country. Terrorism in Pakistan is a result of the American failure in Afghanistan. We trusted the Americans. And what did they do? They let Osama bin Laden escape from Tora Bora, and then the Americans refused to listen to our advice and filled the puppet government in Kabul with the same people who helped Osama escape.

4. Don’t Lecture Us On India: The United States and its sidekick, Britain, have decided that India will be their slave-soldier in Asia in the 21st century. They want India to fight China and stabilize Afghanistan. They now want Pakistan to accept Indian military and intelligence presence in Afghanistan, forget about Kashmir and the water disputes, and turn the Pakistani military into a little more than a local police force tasked with killing anyone who doesn’t like America’s occupation of Afghanistan.

5. India IS Pakistan’s enemy until proven otherwise through actions and not words: Someone has to teach Mrs. Clinton, President Obama and their other team members some lessons in strategy. India continues to prove by actions that it is an enemy of Pakistan. This does not apply to the people of India but it certainly applies to their government and their intelligence services, their media, and their ‘non-state actors’. The world should know that India in 1972 launched a unilateral invasion of Pakistan exploiting a domestic political crisis and helped break up Pakistan. We have never done anything similar to India before that year. This naked aggression by India was never condemned by the so-called leaders of the free world and continues to be overlooked. India is portrayed as a responsible country despite having committed aggression against a smaller neighbor without provocation. Can the Americans guarantee India will not do this again?

6. The Afghan Taliban Are Not A Threat To America: The Afghan Taliban have never operated outside their country and are attacking American and other occupation forces inside Afghanistan as a result of the occupation. Washington should stop deliberately confusing the world about the difference between the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda. The al Qaeda is a terrorist organization that should be eliminated, and has considerably been eliminated.

7. Eliminating Afghan Taliban Is Not Pakistan’s Responsibility: It is America’s responsibility to bring the Pashtun in Afghanistan into the power structure and defuse tensions.

8. So-called Pakistani Taliban Are No Threat To America: Although money and weapons for these militants are coming from U.S-controlled Afghanistan, many of the recruits and fighters are Pakistanis and we will deal with them any way we deem fit. It is not for Washington to decide how we do this.

By AHMED QURAISHI Wednesday, 3 June 2009. WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The latest scare story on Pakistan’s nukes is a breath of fresh air. Instead of the unnamed sources, which have been the basis for the anti-Pakistan demonization campaign in the U.S. media, this time we have no less than President Obama’s point man on South Asia, M. Bruce Riedel, coming out with an op-ed that leaves little mystery in the debate over whether Washington is exploiting terrorism to target Islamabad’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Mr. Riedel is one of the key proponents of the theory that the Pakistani military needs to be transformed into a little more than a glorified local police force watching out for U.S. interests. It is pointless to counter the arguments of such determined imperialists who are shamelessly interfering in Pakistan. What is more important at this stage is to understand how our supposed ally has taken us for a ride and how we need to exploit the new American desperation in the region to get a better deal than the one currently in hand. There is a growing body of evidence that the U.S. is supporting terrorism in our region to further its strategic objectives. In Iran, a secretive sectarian group is trying to rally the people of Iran’s Sistan-Balochistan province for secession from Tehran. In Pakistan’s Balochistan, an ethnic group has risen from the dead to campaign for secession. The only thing common to both groups is that they emerged after the U.S. landed in Afghanistan and turned that poor country into a source of region-wise destabilization. So much for fighting terror. The Pakistani military has also admitted over the weekend what Pakistan’s pro-U.S. government has been hiding for months. The weapons that the terrorists – the fake Pakistani Taliban – are using to kill Pakistanis are coming primarily from U.S. and India. The Pakistani military leadership first confronted Adm. Mullen and CIA Deputy Director Stephen Kappes about this in a secret meeting in Rawalpindi last July. As in all insurgencies, the terrorists in our northwestern belt are a mix of local elements bolstered by professional fighters from U.S.-controlled Afghanistan. The Pakistani military has squeezed these terrorists so hard now that there is little doubt where the support for this anti-Pakistan terror campaign is coming from. To avoid embarrassment, Washington quickly ‘leaked’ a story that U.S. weapons meant for the Afghan army have reached insurgents. The timing of the leak conveniently coincides with the Pakistani army catching the American double game pants down. Some members of the Karzai puppet regime have privately confirmed to Pakistani officials that they are incapable of stopping Indian terrorist activities on Afghan soil. None of this will stop unless Pakistan firmly puts the leash on CIA outposts inside Pakistan. There is no question that CIA and Pakistani spy agencies were allies during the 1980s. But let us not forget that the CIA station in Pakistan recruited twelve insiders and used them to plan sabotage from within before being busted by chance in 1978. Now the U.S. strategic interest in the region is largely divergent from that of Pakistan’s. U.S. officials, like Mr. Riedel, have little respect or appreciation for Pakistan’s right to have its own national security perspective and not rely on U.S. think tanks to adopt one. Today, Pakistan is paying for the blank check that our government and intelligence agencies gave the Americans on the ground in Balochistan and the tribal belt. America is desperate in Afghanistan. U.S. officials have launched a fresh charm offensive to pacify the alienated Pakistanis. A panicked and bankrupt Washington is also trying to scare Asia into doling out money to save America’s failed occupation in Afghanistan. This is the time for Islamabad to demand Washington cease all the propaganda about Pakistan’s nukes, about the fabled ten billion dollars in aid, and stop turning the world against Pakistan. The elected government needs to muster some guts to confront Washington on this instead of leaving all the tough talk to Pakistani military leadership. There is a golden opportunity out there to put a leash on CIA activities in Pakistan which we had consented to after 9/11. The American goal posts have shifted. Pakistan is no longer bound by the same deal.

April 8, 2009

President Obama has said that Al-Qaeda has strongholds in Tribal Areas of Pakistan and from there they are planning to attack U.S.. He also mentioned that the U.S. plans to expand its ‘war on terror’ inside Pakistan. This statement of Obama coincided with another statement and that, from terrorist number one. No it’s not Osama! Current terrorist number one is Baitullah Mehsud. Mehsud is based in Tribal areas of Pakistan.

Different media groups reported that Mehsud while talking to them via cell phone, warned that he “will attack the White House’. If you are shocked or frightened by his statement needn’t be. Just pause for a moment and think how Mehsud hiding somewhere in remote Tribal areas of Pakistan is able to talk to newsmen via cell phone? And why are the CIA or other ally agencies unable to find his location, using his coordinates with their sophisticated tracking devices? What about the fine timing of this home run from Mehsud? Just when the U.S. and its allies are cornering Pakistan and gearing up to expand war on terror inside Pakistan, Mehsud comes up with a statement that is really damaging for Pakistan!

Of course there was another U.S. drone attack in Orakzai agency of the Tribal areas of Pakistan and some innocent people were killed but for some reasons unknown to anyone, the U.S. drone handlers weren’t able to target Osama or Mehsud. It may have something to do with the fact that they really don’t even know where Osama is (or if he is even alive). All we know is that Al-Qaeda is able to send video/audio tapes to Aljazeera based in Qatar. Hold on one minute – isn’t Qatar the same place where CENTCOM is located with a billion dollar complex? Yes folks, it’s the same place but somehow Al-Qaeda is able to bypass their sophisticated electronics and get their video tapes broadcast on Aljazeera.

This is just too much for even the most naïve political reader and news follower to accept. All the truth requires in this case is good, old fashioned common sense. Any common soul can ponder on the fact that there is something fishy going on here – not just fishy but also sinister. And please don’t give place to the tired old words “conspiracy theory”. They no longer work. If it walks like duck and quacks like a duck … you know the rest. This is a matter of the U.S. working to drive its old ally, Pakistan, into a corner. Pakistan was the country that allowed U.S. to station its U-2 spy plane in Peshawar, Pakistan to spy on Soviet Russia. Pakistan was the country that started back channel diplomacy between China and U.S., something that Bill Clinton had to acknowledge in 2000 when he was in Pakistan for a lengthy five hour tour. (This shows the importance U.S. gave to Pakistan between 1989 and September 10th 2001. Clinton spent 5 days in India, Pakistan’s arch nemesis). Pakistan was the country that the CIA turned to when they fought the Soviets, of course the U.S., themselves, didn’t fight. They asked ISI to train, equip and make battle plans for the ‘mujahedeen’, against Soviets. Once the Soviets got their Vietnam, U.S. simply moved away, and slapped sanctions on Pakistan for continuing its nuclear program. As Hugo Chavez once said, “The U.S. disposes of its allies like used condoms.” It’s ok for U.S., UK, China, France, Russia, India and Israel to have nuclear weapons but it’s not ok for Pakistan or Iran to have nukes.

The point is that after using Pakistan conveniently for the last forty years or more, the time has now come for the U.S. to ditch Pakistan completely. Hence the U.S. has given Pakistan the option to tow its line completely or “the stick” – to accept responsiblity for what happens in future. Hint-hint, is another 9/11 in the making somewhere in West? The U.S. is pressurizing the Pakistan Army and ISI to throw aside Pakistan’s national interests and blindly do its dirty work inside their own country and in the region. In addition, ignore for a moment the U.S. expansion of war into Pakistan. It gets better. The U.S. has advised the Pakistan Army to disclaim India as enemy number one, not to focus on India in the future and to change its defense policy. How can anyone in their right mind expect the Pakistan Army and ISI to accept U.S. demands, when they have concrete evidence of Indian support from Afghanistan for terrorist groups inside Pakistan? India, in clear violation of 1962 Indus River Water Treaty, has stopped water flow from Kashmir (Chenab River), into Pakistan causing severe water crisis, which will increase sharply in the coming dry months. How can the U.S. expect Pakistan Army and ISI to shove these issues aside?

Veteran journalist and Pakistan expert, Eric Margolis has penned some telling lines in his new article, Is Pakistan Really Double Dealing? –

“Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), has been secretly aiding Taliban and its allies in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. So charged the ‘New York Times’ in a front-page story last week that was clearly planted by the Obama administration. In 2003, the ‘NY Times’ severely damaged its once stellar reputation by serving as a primary conduit for fake war propaganda put out by the Bush administration over Iraq. The ‘Times’ is now beating the war drums for more U.S. military operations against Pakistan”.

Margolis continues,

“ISI is not playing a double game, as Washington charges, but simply assuring Pakistan’s strategic and political interests in the region. Anyway, who are the Americans, who supplied Taliban with millions in aid until four month before 9/11, to criticize Pakistan for its choice of friends.”

This Pakistani political analyst expects the new Obama plan to be worse than that of Bush, and predict more violence inside Pakistan.

“Pakistan would be reduced to a battlefield if our leadership accedes to Obama’s strategy,” commented Rustam Shah Mohmand, former interior secretary, former ambassador to Afghanistan and a top security expert.

Former Fata secretary Brig (retd) Mehmud Shah is of the view these are testing times for political as well as military leaders, who are expected to defend Pakistan against the sinister Zionist conspiracy to destabilize and denuclearize Pakistan.

The U.S. is dealing with Pakistan on three different levels.
The first is their secret dealing with President Zardari and his special advisors. Just recently Zardari was in Dubai meeting with Richard Holbrooke, and Zalmay Khalilzad under a media blackout. Today, the meeting came to light on Gulf News.
The second is their relationship with the central government of Pakistan.
The third is the relationship with Pakistan army and the ISI.

It’s the third tier that is most important and that’s where the frustration is centered at the moment for the U.S.. The Pakistan Army and ISI are simply not willing to go against Pakistan’s national interest as Zardari and his government is doing at the moment.

The U.S. would like to expand its war into Pakistan’s largest province, Balochistan. Balochistan is strategically located East of Iran and to the South of Afghanistan. It has a port at Gwadar that was built by China. Gwadar lies at the opening of Strait of Hurmoz. Balochistan has huge quantities of natural gas, and unexplored oil reserves. More importantly U.S. wants to control the port of Gwadar, and eventually start their dream oil pipeline from Central Asia, through Afghanistan into Balochistan and Gwadar.

Expanding the war into Pakistan will further inflame the public opinion against U.S. foreign policy. The weak Pakistan government will be under more pressure to change its policy towards the “war on terror”. Already there is a huge difference between public opinion on the war on terror and Zardari’s views. The U.S. media has painted a picture that extremist and conservative parties or groups in Pakistan are against U.S. foreign policy and that they represent a small minority of Pakistanis. This is not the case. The vast majority of the Pakistani population is strongly opposed to the “war on terror”. President Obama says on television that the U.S. will continue drone attacks in Pakistan and continue to expand “our” war on terror” into Pakistan territory. He says, “but I want to the people of Pakistan to know we are not the enemy of the Pakistan nation”.

Perhaps the 1% elite class, dual passport holders (mostly U.S., UK, Canada) in Pakistan will cooperate with the Obama regime, but the 99% people of Pakistan will simply not accept this rhetoric. The 600,000 Pakistani troops and 500,000 reservists are from that 99% majority and not from the 1% elite. That is the point that the policy makers in the U.S. think tanks can’t seem to understand. There are many experts and authors writing reports on Pakistan who have never visited troubled areas here and who have no interaction with the people. Last year, under pressure from the U.S. military chiefs and the Bush regime, the Pakistan government replaced the head of the ISI and gave its command to General Ahmed Pasha. Sadly for the U.S., Pasha has not delivered as the U.S. expected. I hope they didn’t select Pasha for the post just based on his name, because other than his name he shares nothing with obedient the Pashas of the dying Ottoman Empire. (Pasha is actually a title given by Ottoman Empire to people who were favorites of the ruling elite).

After the “who dunnit” terrorist attack at the Lahore police training center, Pakistan is under severe pressure from the U.S. and its allies for ‘doing more’ against terrorism in Pakistan. Nawaz, on the other hand, is chumming up to the U.S. more than ever. He will visit the U.S. embassy in Islamabad next week to discuss future role that U.S. might have for him. As I mentioned previously in my dispatches, Nawaz is close to Clinton family.

The million dollar question to think about is what happens when the U.S. corners Pakistan? Will Pakistan go down like Iraq, ravaged with civil wars, daily bombings, and extreme sectarian divide? Pakistan has at least 170 million people to begin with, and nuclear weapons. Will Pakistan just let go of its nuclear weapons? Will the Army sit in barracks and watch the country plunge into civil war? What will become of the people – 170 million strong? Another question remains about whether the U.S. will send in ground troops if Pakistan Army and ISI refuse to fight “terrorists” in tribal areas of Pakistan. Is Obama ready to spend billions more in fighting the “war on terror”? Will we see India sending its troops into Afghanistan to support U.S. and NATO troops? The basic rule of nature is that there is an equal and opposite reaction to every action. The Pakistan Army and ISI have no doubt been a long ally of Pentagon and the CIA. But when the existence of ISI and Pakistan Army itself is under threat, they just might decide to change their alliances. Will Pakistan Army start supporting Taliban in Afghanistan again in order to divert the U.S. war expansion from Pakistan back into Afghanistan? Uncle Sam must remember that China too has a big stake in Pakistan. The Pakistan Army has the same level of strategic partnership with its Chinese counterpart as they have with the Americans. The only difference is that there are no secrets between China and Pakistan. According to Sun Tzu, the art of war is to defeat your enemy without fighting! This is surely something that the U.S. should remember and the fact that no invading army has ever returned victorious from Afghanistan. Hence this surge theory of Obama is rubbish to say the least. “Only fools rush in.”

October 8, 2008

This should come as news for Pakistani defeatists. After Kashmir, the rest of the dozen or so freedom movements in India see Pakistan as a symbol of liberty and freedom. Pakistan’s media and intelligence agencies should project these incidents and stoke more support inside these Indian states as retaliation for Indian terrorism inside Pakistan’s Balochistan, tribal belt and other cities.

GAUHATI, India—Depressed from how New Delhi is suppressing local Assamese people who want to carve a separate homeland out of India, people in Assam waved Pakistan’s flags in five districts.

The eastern Indian state is one of a dozen Indian states in the north and east where ferocious freedoms movements are in full swing, demanding the right of self determination from Indian rule.

As usual, the Indian government, blaming Pakistani agencies for the violence, has ordered an immediate enquiry for this incident.

The officials in New Delhi are so disturbed by this that they have invoked patriotism while asking newspaper editors across India to black out any news about the freedom movements.

This week a student delegation visited the State’s governor and told him that ‘the villagers informed us that the miscreants were shouting slogans like Pakistan zindabad [Long live Pakistan] through loudspeakers in Dalgaon and some other border areas,” according to a report in The Assam Tribune.

The Indian paper called on the government to give “stern punishment to those who hoisted Pakistani flags.”

The Indian Express reported the story in one paragraph: “Meanwhile, media persons saw a Pakistani flag in Sonaripara and Mohanpur villages and took photographs of them. Local television channels also ran footage of the flags. Officials and security forces denied any knowledge of the presence of the flags.

New Delhi is disturbed by this new trend where the Pakistani flag has emerged as a symbol of freedom in India.

Indian officials are still smarting from the shock of a unanimous rejection of India across Kashmir. For years the Kashmiris have been marking India’s national day on Aug. 15 as a Black Day. But this year, Kashmir witnessed a unanimous civil disobedience and massive street protests where Kashmiris joined in raising the Pakistani flag and chanting slogans rejecting their forced inclusion in the Indian state.

The massive protests shocked the Indian media and ordinary Indians who for years were shielded by New Delhi authorities from ground realities in Kashmir and were fed an official version that almost the entire free Indian media adhered to without asking questions. The size and the impressive unanimity of Kashmiri protests this year helped break Indian official media blackout and provided the Indian people a chance to see for their own what their governments have been hiding for decades now, where the Kashmir dispute was often peddled as a Pakistani creation and not the result of indigenous Kashmiri demands.

This story should come as surprising news to a vocal minority in Pakistani media that continues to hold an inferiority complex concerning the Indian government. This Pakistani minority is used to exaggerating Pakistani flaws and glorifying India and presenting it as a country devoid of any flaws [Editor’s note: This is called ‘Bollywood Effect’. This minority needs to break the spell and improve its taste by watching some quality movies from Hollywood and elsewhere.]

This is a good opportunity for Pakistani media organizations and spy agencies to project the freedom movements inside various Indian states that want independence from Indian rule. Pakistanis recall how the Indian government broke international law and issued a statement supporting its own trained and funded terrorists in Pakistani Balochistan in 2006. This is why it has become imperative to pay the New Delhi establishment in the same coin. Assam and the rest of the twelve or so Indian states that are fighting for independence are a good place to start.

October 6, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—This is the first time that Pakistan does not have an ambassador in Beijing for several months now, which is an oddity. Washington and London were the first capitals where the Gilani government appointed ambassadors. That is supposedly understandable. The current government in Pakistan was possible only because of a political understanding – widely referred to in Islamabad as a ‘deal – which both capitals brokered with a weak and fading Mr. Musharraf.

But how China has slipped from the list of priorities of the Gilani government can be gauged from our expected participation this week in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit on Aug. 28. This is a Chinese and Russian dominated organization seen as a counterweight to U.S. influence in our region. In this first major foreign policy engagement for this government involving China, no senior politician from the Gilani administration will be representing Pakistan. Prime Minister Gilani has decided that, due to our pressing internal political situation, the advisor to the prime minister for national security – a former ambassador to Washington – will instead represent Islamabad. This will be the lowest Pakistani participation in SCO since its formation in 2001. It is true that Pakistan is still not a full member of the SCO. But Beijing is strongly advocating full membership for Islamabad and Moscow is more favorably inclined to go along than at any other time, putting aside Indian sensitivities.

Given how we are suffering from Washington’s destabilizing influence in our neighborhood, you would think we would have shown more enthusiasm for this week’s SCO summit. But this is not the case. What is interesting is that this attitude comes at the heel of several events in the past four months that have generated some concern among Pakistani Sinologists. This is a concern that has not turned to panic, not yet at least.

A couple of months ago, Dr. Shireen Mazari, a former head of a think tank funded by our Foreign Office, reported that our top diplomats received verbal ‘guidance’ from a well known Washington-based figure in the Gilani government to stop focusing too much on China and start a new policy of engagement with countries such as India and the United States.This could be a personal opinion or a general policy observation, and all elected governments have the right to review policies. But in China’s case, we have accumulated several bad examples recently that the subject merits a special discussion.

In April, a fresh Prime Minister Gilani refused to attend the Olympic Torch Relay ceremony as the torch passed through Islamabad on the pretext that President Musharraf was also attending.

Considering how western members of the International Olympic Committee refused to include Pakistan in the torch route and how Beijing stuck to Islamabad, the Apr. 16 incident in the Pakistani capital was certainly a ghastly show of lopsided priorities.

And then on Aug. 8, Pakistan’s participation at the level of President in China’s most important event of the century was scuttled because of Pakistani politics. You can be certain that our Chinese friends were not very impressed when we sent to Beijing a prime minister widely seen as ‘remote-controlled’ – as opposed to a ‘puppet’ – along with the teenage chairman of the ruling party. It didn’t quite give the impression that we attached a lot of importance to an important event for China. Overall, it would be an understatement to say that this has not been a good year so far for Sino-Pakistani ties.

The principals of the Gilani government must excuse the skeptics when things like this happen. After all, the government has shown a lot of enthusiasm in focusing on ties with the United States. Washington was the first real foreign engagement for Prime Minister Gilani. You can discount the Saudi visit. That was limited to a one-point agenda: Cheap oil. Certainly the government has shown a lot of interest in hiring the services of an ‘American enthusiast’ to be our ambassador in Washington, followed by appointing the last serving ambassador there as the new national security advisor to the prime minister.

This is a government tinged with a heavy American dose. That is fine since this is an important relationship for Islamabad. But in the process, China should not be sidelined.

Did Pakistan take part in occupying Afghanistan? No we didn’t. So why should it be Pakistan’s responsibility to eliminate Afghan opposition and resistance groups? No, Mr. Zardari, this is America’s war, not Pakistan’s. Our war is limited to the tribal belt where Karzai and Indians are feeding gangs of criminals who call themselves ‘Pakistani Taliban’.That’s where Pakistan’s war ends.The real problem is not ISI or sanctuaries in Pakistan. The real problem is that Washington won’t talk to Afghan Taliban and other Afghan opposition groups and bring them into government in Kabul.Karzai and his Indian friends don’t want this to happen and instead are egging on Washington to go to war with Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A little noticed but major flaw in the Pak-U.S. partnership in the war on terror is leading Pakistani policymakers and public opinion to make a serious error in judgment that could devastate Pakistan’s stability and leave us looking like another close U.S. ally: Iraq.

This error in judgment is simple but easily overlooked: Pakistan did not take part in occupying Afghanistan. The war to sustain that occupation and prolong it is not Pakistan’s war. It never was. For President Zardari’s government to ‘own’ this war at U.S. behest is not only ridiculous but shifts the responsibility of stabilizing Afghanistan onto Pakistani shoulders. In a worst case scenario, if anything goes wrong, this ‘Pakistani ownership’ can and will be used later to force a variety of foreign military interventions in Pakistan, as part of the war on terror or to protect our allegedly endangered nukes. This is why Pakistan needs to officially leave the coalition that occupies Afghanistan and squarely pin the responsibility for Afghanistan on U.S.

This delineation is important because the Pakistani war is limited to our border regions with Afghanistan against criminal groups masquerading as ‘Pakistani Taliban’.It is not Pakistan’s war or responsibility to stamp out the Afghan opposition and resistance groups that thrive inside Afghanistan and may sometimes enter Pakistani territory to seek support from ethnic tribal brethren. It is not our responsibility that Washington and its puppet Karzai regime have failed or are unwilling to bring the disgruntled Afghans on board and end the civil war.

The question of alleged support from Pakistan to Afghan Taliban, the ‘sanctuaries’, and the ‘rogue intelligence’ theory is all secondary if Washington decides today to talk to Afghan opposition groups, including Afghan Taliban, and offers them a share in ruling their country.If this happens, the question of Pakistani support for Afghan insurgency will become obsolete since there will be no insurgency to support. This is the crux:reconciliation in Afghanistan will end Afghan opposition’s need for sanctuaries anywhere.

What is happening right now is that Mr. Karzai and the former Northern Alliance are refusing to bring Afghan opposition on board and instead are pushing U.S. to a war with Pakistan to settle old scores.

Eliminating Afghan resistance could have become “Pakistan’s war” if our American friends, after taking over Kabul, accommodated their Pakistani ally’s legitimate interests in Afghanistan, understood Islamabad’s valid strategic concerns, and rewarded it for taking a difficult decision: ditching an ally in Kabul in a country that remained hostile throughout the Cold War.

What ultimately happened is that everyone in the region was allowed a bite of the Afghan pie except Pakistan. Almost all major players – U.S., Nato, Iran, India, and others – were allowed to secure their interests except Islamabad.Pakistan could have swallowed this insult if Washington kept Afghanistan to itself, but the reality is that the Bush White House ceded crucial space in Afghanistan to Pakistan’s archrival, India, while keeping Pakistan out. Even mildly Pakistan-friendly Afghan elements were not accepted in the power structure in Kabul. And now the Afghan soil is being used by third parties to export terrorism into Pakistan and destabilize the country.

If this American lapse was unintentional, then it shows U.S. ineptitude. But circumstantial evidence indicates that Pakistan was probably part of the expanded U.S. agenda following 9/11, which included invading Iraq, toppling the regimes of Syria and Iran and redrawing the map of the wider Middle East, including Pakistan.

Instead of taking on a nuclear Pakistan head on, we were effectively used to occupy Afghanistan and then gradually, starting 2004, the noose was tightened around us. It began with the nuclear proliferation issue and then moved on to a new threat, the safety of our nukes.Interestingly, the ‘Pakistan-is-another-Iraq’ theory and the nuclear scare were both exclusively started and hyped by the U.S. media, with dramatic pressure-building tactics similar to what was done in the run up to Iraq invasion.

For the growing chorus in the liberal sections of the Pakistani media that wants to ‘own’ this war, we must understand this: the occupation of Afghanistan and the elimination of Afghan resistance groups is not Pakistan’s war.Our war is limited to the insurgencies raging from Gwadar to the Chinese border with partial malicious support from the Afghan soil. This war can be won.Making Pakistan ‘own’ America’s war in Afghanistan and shifting it to our tribal belt will exacerbate the insurgencies and could destabilize Pakistan beyond the point of return.

September 29, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—At the time of 9/11, there was only one Taliban, the Afghan Taliban. Now there are several. This is not natural. It is the result of a great game that intelligence agencies from several countries are playing to confuse the situation on the Pak-Afghan border. Some, like the Indians, are using it to send trained terrorists. Others, like the Americans, are using it to support terrorists like BLA. And Russia is suspected of financing some other militants to keep the Americans tied down.

The Good Taliban is those who are patriots, they understand the situation created by the enemies of Pakistan. They support the Army and its various agencies that are all busy protecting Pakistan. The Good Taliban also includes the Afghan Taliban, who is the original Taliban. They are good not because we like or dislike their policy, but because they, too, have never attacked Pakistan or Pakistanis. They are part of the Afghan opposition to the puppet regime of Hamid Karzai and are part of the Afghan resistance to a foreign occupation, all of which has nothing to do with Pakistan.

The Bad Taliban are those who started to form various groups under the leadership of the opportunist Mullahs or Imams. Such groups formed when they found the country was rapidly slipping towards chaos and lawlessness.

The Ugly Taliban are those who are the well paid agents of the coalition that consists of India, Israel, Europe and United States, using Afghanistan as their base of operation. They are supported by the Northern Alliance and the puppet Mr. Karzai in Kabul. They have sold themselves to the enemy and are responsible for the present chaos. Their objective is to make the country weak, induce turmoil and attack the defense system and the associated personnel of the country.

This last group, the Bad Taliban, whom you can also call the Fake Taliban, is the real enemy of Pakistan.They pose themselves as religious people and have contacts with other religious organizations in Pakistan and arrange all the suicide bombings, truck bombings, the introduction of fear and panic among the people. The BLA of Balochistan has also joined this group and is supported by the above mentioned countries.